PwC cleared by watchdog after probe into audit of collapsed property firm Intu
The accounting watchdog has dropped an investigation into PwC’s audit of property group Intu today and cleared the partners in charge after a year long probe into the Big Four firm’s work on the firm.
Intu, which operated a portfolio of 17 shopping centres including the Trafford Centre in Manchester and Lakeside in Essex, filed for administration during the pandemic after failing to win a delay to payments on its £4.5bn debt pile.
The Financial Reporting Council’s enforcement division launched a probe in February this year into PwC’s audit of the firm. After PwC signed off the accounts in 2017 and 2018, the firm issued a statement in 2019 saying there was “material uncertainty” over its ability to continue operating
However, the watchdog announced today it has closed the investigation and that “the relevant persons should no longer be liable for enforcement action”.
“We are pleased the investigation has closed without sanction,” PwC said in a statement. “We remain committed to delivering high quality audits.”
PwC’s work on the property firm was among a host of high profile audits to fall under the eye of the regulator over the past three years.
KPMG was fined a record £21m earlier this year for a “textbook failure” in audits of builder Carillion which imploded in 2018 and prompted a root and branch review of auditing standards.
The proposals would have required primary legislation to be laid by government, but ministers omitted the bill as a priority in the King’s Speech last month in a move described as “disappointing” by FRC chief Richard Moriarty.
In a statement in November, the body said it would now take “only a small number” of its original proposals forward and halt development of the wider 18 planned reforms it wanted to usher in.